Dreidl, dreidl, dreidl, I Made It Out of Clay"

 Dreidl, dreidl, dreidl, I Made It Out of Clay" 

What a wonderful nursery school song for Hanukkah: 

That may be fine for a dreidl (sevivon, in Hebrew), but if the kids make a Menorah (Hanukiah, or candelabra) out of clay, then a Bar/Bat Mitvah, beyond the age of 12 (girl) or 13 (boy), cannot light Hanukkah lights in that Menorah. For the Halachah is: 

If one lights Hanukkah lights in an earthenware Menorah, that Menorah is considered "old", and cannot be used on subsequent nights (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, chap.674, par.3). The Mishnah Berurah explains that the clay becomes ruined- burnt clay cannot be cleaned up to look new again. Since the Menorah doesn't look beautiful anymore, it’s an insult to the Mitzvah to perform it this way. The Menorah must look new in order to light in it; thus, it's customary to light in a metal or glass Menorah, but a clay one is disqualified.

This halakha touches the core of two ideas that are basic to Hanukkah: beauty (hadar, in Hebrew) and renewal. Many commentators (Bnei Yisaschar among them; Hanukkah 4:9) note that the light of Hanukkah teaches us to never give up. Teshuvah means to never despair of being capable of personal renewal and beginning anew. Beauty (hadar) is the way the lighting of Hanukkah candles is to be done, and חן (chain, meaning charm and beauty) give Hanukkah its very name (in Hebrew, chayn on the 25th, of the month of Kislev). These two ideas are learned from this week's Parsha, Vayeshev, and from an amazing Gemara that deals with the story of Yosef and the attempted seduction by the wife of Potifar: 

M The Torah uses the word וימאן to describe Joseph's refusal of the enticements of Potiphar's wife in this week's Torah reading. But the way it is read has a hidden meaning:

וימאן -the Torah reader’s voice goes up, then down; his voice rises again, and then falls; and finally the reader raises his voice yet a third time, and lets it fall. Thus he reads the story of Yosef refusing the blandishments of the wife of Potiphar (Genesis 39; 8).

M The reader does this because the Torah reading musical note (ta'am in Hebrew) on וימאן (“and he refused”) is a שלשלת, shalshelet. The root of the word “shalshelet” is shalosh, meaning “three”, and it denotes a chain of three musical notes. The Torah seems to be hinting at a threefold refusal by Yosef; indeed, the Talmud says that that is exactly what occurred:

"And as the wife of Potiphar spoke to Yosef day after day, he did not listen to her, to lie or be with her (Genesis 39:10). Every day she tried to persuade him with tough words: 'Lie with me, or I will put you in jail.' He answered: 'The Lord frees the imprisoned [words from the morning prayers]. She threatened: 'I will shorten your height.' Yosef replied: 'God raises those bent over, to stand erect [again from the morning prayers]. Finally came her third threat: 'I will blind your eyes.' He said: 'The Lord gives sight to the blind [also from the morning prayers].' She gave him a thousand talents of silver to obey her, and still he did not want to listen" (Yoma 35b).

More at:  https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/364454